The present invention relates to an improvement in separably connecting a rocket booster to a space vehicle and more particularly, but not by way of limitation, to a thrust system for attaching and quickly disconnecting and jettisoning a rocket booster from a core space vehicle.
In connection with the launch of a space vehicle and its associated payload into space it is necessary to expend a significant amount of energy. In order to achieve this energy it is common to associate one or more boosters with the main core launch vehicle. These boosters are commonly solid fuel rocket boosters that are separably arranged around the aft end of the core space vehicle. After lift off, the energy of the rocket boosters is expended at a predetermined rate until all of the solid rocket fuel has been used. The usefulness of the rocket boosters has then ended and it is necessary to separate the boosters from the launch vehicle as expeditiously as possible to avoid any drag from the now useless boosters.
The present practice for disengaging a solid rocket booster from the core launch vehicle and jettisoning the booster from the core space vehicle contemplates powering the disengagement and jettisoning functions by separate energy sources. Commonly, the structural joints connecting the solid rocket booster to the core space vehicle are severed by pyrotechnic means. Once severed from the core vehicle the boosters are then jettisoned from the immediate vicinity of the core vehicle by suitable thrusters to preclude any incidental contact between the boosters and the core vehicle.